The use of complex instruments for chemical analysis is becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, because of school budgetary constraints, many students are not exposed to these methods until they reach the college level. When students do have access to sophisticated instruments, they often view them as black boxes, with little or no understanding of the internal workings. This article describes an experiment which addresses both financial and technical concerns by introducing students to one example of this technology and teaching them how it works. Students are asked to construct a visible-light spectrometer using commonly available and relatively inexpensive equipment. In doing so, they are introduced to the important field of spectroscopy in an authentic fashion and, as a result, often gain a clear understanding of basic spectroscopic principles and the operation of a spectrometer. (Contains 4 figures.)